Plane Destroys Fullerton Home

A small private plane spewing black smoke from its tail clipped a power line and nose-dived into a Fullerton home Tuesday, killing the pilot and engulfing the unoccupied house in flames.

Neighbors and children who had spent the warm day in wading pools watched in horror as the plane’s fuel tank exploded. Firefighters battled flames for nearly an hour.

The fiery accident--the 28th at or near Fullerton Municipal Airport since 1985--followed reports of an open door on the aircraft and a mayday call from the pilot before the Beechcraft Debonaire dropped onto the home near the intersection of Courtney and Ash avenues.

The four-seat plane, built in 1984, was registered to Sherman Oaks physician William Garvin Lofton. Orange County coroner’s officials had not identified the pilot as of late Tuesday night, but Lofton family friends confirmed that preliminary findings by the coroner’s office indicated that Lofton was aboard the plane.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board sifted through the charred remains of the craft Tuesday afternoon, but authorities said they were unsure what caused the crash.

Renee Scandura, who rented the Fullerton home, was away eating lunch in her car when she heard about the crash on her radio. Worried about her two dogs, she raced home.

“I had a feeling it was my house,” Scandura, 30, said as she surveyed the wreckage. She found her black Labrador retriever Fred safe in the backyard. Animal control later returned her terrier Tess unharmed after the dog had bolted.

As firefighters sifted through the rubble, residents who heard the loud crash shortly after noon said they felt lucky to be alive.

At the moment of impact, Donna Cowsert was at her daughter’s home across the street caring for her daughter’s infant while another granddaughter frolicked in an inflatable pool on the front lawn.

“I thought at first it was a car crash. I heard the kids screaming,” Cowsert recalled, still shaken.

She ran outside. Debris was scattered across the street. A wheel from the plane had landed in the front yard.

“First I couldn’t see the kids, and I panicked,” Cowsert said. “I’ve already thanked God for saving my children and grandchildren.”

Julia Fowler was at home with her husband, Richard, and daughter Nicole when the plane plummeted just a few doors away.

“I heard the crash. It was like an earthquake, like a jolt,” she said. “I came flying across the street, and the house just exploded.”

Esther Quiroz, who lives behind the destroyed house, was at work when she heard news of a plane crash in her neighborhood. Fearing the worst, she raced home to check on her family and found everyone safe.

“I was really scared,” said Quiroz, 50. “I saw the smoke, and I thought it was my home.”

Five electric lines were downed in the crash, and about 600 Southern California Edison customers lost power for half an hour, said company spokesman Steve Hansen. Another 300 were expected to be without electricity well into Tuesday night, he said.

Witnesses said they saw smoke trailing the low-flying plane shortly after the plane took off from Fullerton Municipal Airport.

The aircraft was seen flying low, about 100 feet over the Buena Park Police Department building, just before the crash. By then the plane should have climbed to 1,100 feet, airport officials said.

Moments later, the unidentified pilot radioed, telling airport officials of an “open-door problem but declining to report an emergency,” according to Federal Aviation Administration officials.

But it is unlikely an open door would have caused the crash, airport officials said. “One open door is not a significant event,” said Rod Propst, manager of the Fullerton airport. “You just go back to the airport and shut the door.”

Experiencing problems, the pilot tried to turn the plane back toward the airport, but its tail caught an electric power line about three-quarters of a mile southeast of the runway, city officials said.

“We assume that it was trying to land at the airport,” said Fullerton city spokeswoman Sylvia Palmer. “We have reports of a Mayday from the pilot, then the radio went dead.”

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In Sherman Oaks, family members and friends gathered at the Lofton home Tuesday night.

“He was a wonderful man,” said Beverly Lofton, married to William Lofton for more than 12 years.

Carol Hartmann, a neighbor, said Lofton, an obstetrician who worked for Kaiser Permanente in Panorama City, had flown to Fullerton to visit his daughter’s godfather.

“He came across as being rough on the outside but had a heart of gold,” Hartmann said.

Jocelyn Smith, a longtime friend, described “Billy” Lofton as a gregarious family man who loved to tease his friends. But his passions, she said, were his 11-year-old daughter and flying.

“He really liked to fly, and it’s ironic that this is the way it had to happen,” she said. “He’s a really safe flyer, and he knew what he was doing.”

Hal Potter, a neighbor who knew the Loftons since they moved into the Royal Woods area of Sherman Oaks in the mid-1980s, said he found in Lofton a fellow aviation enthusiast.

“He was very knowledgeable about aviation. . . . He knew about all the latest models and even the fighter planes,” Potter said. “He was a nice, quiet guy who loved his family.”

While the cause of the crash remains under investigation, Tuesday’s fiery scene at a normally tranquil neighborhood is likely to renew complaints of safety problems surrounding Fullerton Airport.

In 1995, a small airplane nose-dived into a Fullerton townhouse complex, killing both men aboard the aircraft and a woman sleeping in her apartment.

Propst defended the facility’s safety record, saying there are 200 to 250 successful operations--including takeoffs and landings--at the airport every day. But some residents said they remained worried, especially given previous crashes at the facility.

Back at the destroyed home, Scandura, who works in manufacturing, and her roommate Kurt Misner said they did not blame the airport for the problem. Misner, who works for a mutual fund company in Brea, said that the crash caused about $40,000 in damage to music equipment he kept at the home but that he was relieved he was at work at the time.

“It’s pretty shocking, but it’s very fortunate because we’re OK,” Misner said. He said he sympathized with the pilot’s relatives. “What a terrible loss. We feel really sorry for his family.”

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Times staff writers Meg James and Scott Martelle and Times correspondents Greg Risling and Luladey B. Tadesse contributed to this report.

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* RENEWED PROTEST?

Neighbors say they will petition for airport safety. B7

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Path of Ill-Fated Flight

A pilot was killed Tuesday when his plane clipped a power line and crashed into an unoccupied Fullerton home.

What happened:

1) Plane takes off from airport

2) Pilot reports “open door” to tower

3) Black smoke spews from tail

4) Plane clips power lines

5) Wing strikes chimney, plane crashes into garage

Source: Sgt. Joe Klein, Fullerton Police

Graphics reporting by BRADY MacDONALD / Los Angeles Times